Game device.



B. G. WARD.

GAMB DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO. 21, 1910. 999,069. y Patented Ju1y 25, 1911.

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UNITED STAILETENT GFFICE. l

BERTRAND Gr. WARD, 0F JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

f GAME DEVICE.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERTRAND G. WARD, a citizen of the United States,and residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GameDevices, of which the following is a specilication, such as will enablethose skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to game devices or apparatus and the objectthereof is to provide an improved device of this class which is designedto amuse and entertain both old and young, and which is preferably madein the form of a table, one end of which is higher than the other, butwhich may be made in the form of a board adapted to be placed on a tableor other support with one end in a higher position than the other.

'Ihe invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate partsof my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters ineach of t-he views, and in which Figure l is a plan view of my improvedgame device or apparatus; and, Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional viewthereof.

In the practice of my invention, I provide a table or board a having arim composed of side members a2, a front end member a3 and a rear endmember a4, and in the right hand front corner portion thereof is alongitudinal channel-way o formed by the adjacent side rim member a2 anda short partition b2 arranged parallel with said side rim member, andthe front end portion of said channel-way is provided with a cover o3and placed therein is a plunger Zat having a rod Z which passes outthrough the front end rim member a3, and is provided with aknob orhandle ZJ, and placed on the rod o5 is a spiral spring o? which normallyholds the plunger o4 in its innermost position.

' Placed on the rear end portion of the table or board a and centrallythereof is a bell or gong o around which are diagonally arranged rows ofstaples, loops or wickets CZ and cl2, the staples Z2 being of lesstransverse dimensions than the staples (Z, and while the bell c isentirely inclosed by these diagonal rows of staples, the staples Z2 areonly at the right hand side and constitute the bottom row, and betweenthe top diagonal rows of staples, or between the diagonal Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed December 2l, 1910.

Patented July 25, 1911.

serial No. 598,602.

rows of staples adjacent to the rear end of the table or board areplaced two staples Z3 .which cross each other as shown and which arelarger than the staples (Z.

Arranged centrally of the table or board and in the manner of a pair ofstairs are a series of steps e, e2, e3, c4, c5 and e, said steps beingarranged transversely of said bo-ard and being bounded on the oppositesides by raised flanges or plates e7 and, in the form of constructionshown, the steps e, e2, e3, etc. decrease in length from the rear endportion thereof forwardly, and the side flanges or plates o7 divergefrom the rear ends thereof forwardly, and this forms on the oppositesides of the stairway, or series of steps, longitudinal spaces f and g,the longitudinal space g being on the left hand side of the table orboard, and said spaces diminish in width from the rear end portionsthereof a plurality of the staples Z arranged in the form of a trianglebelow the base of which the bell or gong Zt is placed.

The steps e, e2, c3, etc., preferably with the exception of the step e,are provided with pockets c', Z2, 3, i* and 5, and these pockets aremade, in the form of a horseshoe, and are secured to said steps and openin the direction of the rear end of the table or board, and in thearrangement shown the steps e2,

c3 and e5 are each provided with one of said pockets, while the steps e4and cG are each provided with two of said pockets.

The bells or gongs o and h. and the pockets z', Z2, Z3, etc., are eachand all provided with, or designated by, numbers consisting, as will beseen, of live or multiples thereof, and at the front end of the board isa transverse row of pockets j, jz, js, etc., and which are live innumber in the form of construction shown, and these pockets arepreferably composed of staples Z2 or staples similar to the staples Z2at the rear end or farther end portion of the table or board, and thesepockets open toward the central part of the board, and placed at theentrance into said pockets are transverse staples (Z, or staples similarto the staples CZ at the opposite end portion of the board.

Arranged between the pockets j, jg, js, etc., and the steps or stairwayformed by the steps e, c2, e3, etc., are two other pockets lo and 7a2made substantially in the same manner as the pockets j, jg, js, etc. andof staples cl2, and across the entrance into said pockets are placedtransverse staples el, and thepockets 7c and 7a2 are arrangedlongitudinally of the table or board, and centrally thereof and on theopposite sides thereof are two larger pockets 7c3 and kf which areformed by the staples CZ, and which open in the direction of thecent-ral portion of the board and across the openings into said pocketsare placed other staples (Z, and the pockets 723 and 764 are providedwith bells or gongs m and m2, and all the pockets j, jz, 7'3, etc., /cand 7a2, and the bells or gongs m and m2 in the pockets 7c3 and 7:4 areprovided vwith, or designated by numbers consisting of multiples of fiveas shown. l also provide a ball or balls fn, adapted to be placed in thechannel-way I) and to be projected longitudinally of the board by theplunger b4 and the dimensions of the ball or balls a is such that saidball or balls will pass freely through the staples CZ but will not passthrough the staples cl2, and said ball or balls will also freely enterthe pockets 2, 3, etc.; and while said ball or balls will enter thepockets 7s and 7a2 through t-he transverse staples d at the openingthereof, they will remain in said pockets until removed, and this isalso true of the pockets y', y2, jg, etc.; but the said ball or ballswill not remain in the pockets 7c3 and lo* in the operation of playingthe game as hereinafter described.

While I have described the parts Z and d2 as staples, loops or wickets,it will be understood that said parts form guards for the bells or gongsin connection with which they are used except at the bottom end of thetable or board where they form pockets and my invention is not limitedto the use of staples, loops or wickets in forming the various pocketsand other parts shown and described as formed by said staples, loops orwickets, as these parts may, if desired, be formed from or consist ofpins or plugs arranged in the manner shown and described.

It will be understood that any desired number may engage in playing thegame and any desired number of balls n may be provided, and in theplaying of the game, a player places his ball in the channel-way b anddraws back the plunger b4 by means of the knob or handle 56 thereof, andwhen said knob or handle is released the plunger b4 will be drivenforwardly by the spring o7 adjacent to the right hand rim portion of thetable or board a, and the said ball will follow a course dependingsomewhat upon the force with which it is projected, or on the extent towhich the spring b7 is compressed in pulling back the plunger b4.

The rear end portion of the board or table is preferably provided withbuffers 0 designed to control, to an extent, the movement of the ball atthe farther end of the board or table, and said ball during its initialmovement will proceed along the dotted line until it reaches the rearend portion of the table or board from which point it may turn inwardlyfrom any one of a number of positions as indicated by the various arrowsm2, w3 or m4, and will then roll down between some of the diagonal rowsof staples CZ-rlg. In this operation the ball may hit the bell or gong 0and the number 5 would be counted by the player, after which the ballmay roll down through the left hand space and through the staples Zabove the bell or gong L and strike said gong, in which case the number10 would also be counted by the player and from the bell or gong it theball would roll down to the front end of the table or board and mightroll into the pocket 7:3 and strike the bell or gong m in which case theplayer would count the number 55, and from the pocket 7a3 the ball wouldroll pref erably into one of the pockets y', 3'2 or js in which eventthe number of said pocket would be counted.

Instead of rolling down through the left hand space g, the ball mightroll down over the steps e, @2 e3, etc., and might be caught in eitherof the pockets z', 2, 3, etc., in which event the number of said pocketwould be counted by the player, and if the said ball should not becaught in one of the pockets 2, 3, etc., it would proceed down over saidsteps and might be caught in either of the pockets 70, 762, j, jg, jg,etc., in which event, the number of said pocket would be counted by theplayer; or said ball might go through one of the pockets 7c3, 7a4, andstrike the bell or gong therein, in which event, the number of said bellor gong would be counted, and from said pocket the ball would rolldownwardly and possibly in one of the pockets j, jg, j, etc. in whichevent, the number of said pocket would be counted.

Instead of the ball taking the course indicated by the arrows x2, m3 andat the rear end of the board, it might cross over and take the courseindicated by the arrows m5, or m7, or any other course between thediagonal rows of staples on the left hand side of the bell or gong c, inwhich event, the movement of the ball might be similar to thathereinbefore described but, as will be understood, the exa-ct directionor course that a ball will take when projected by the plunger b4 cannotbe given. It will also be understood that each player takes his turn inthe usual manner and before beginning the game a number of points isfixed upon which will signify the number to be made to win the game, andthe first player to make this number wins the game, and, as in othergames of this class, the players may be divided into pairs, if desired.It will also be understood that the bells or gongs 0, h, m and m2, andthe pockets z', 2, 3, etc., and the pockets 70 and 702, and the pocketsj,y'2,y'3, etc. constitute counters, some of which retain the ball,while the others do not, and it will be apparent that these countersmaybe made in diferent ways, and changes in and modications of theconstruction described may be made, within the scope of the appendedclaim, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or sacricingits advantages.

It will be understood, of course, that the ball cannot roll backwardlyor down through the right hand space f as this is prevented by thediagonal row of staples cl2, and it will also be seen that the saiddiagonal rows of staples (l and Z2 around the bell or gong c serve bothas guides for, and obstructions to control the movement or course of theball, the direction of the ball when it starts its return movement beingalways determined by the said rows of staples or similar devices; andthe staples d over the bell or gong 7L' serve for a similar purpose, asdo also the staples, wickets or similar devices which form the pockets7c3 and le* in which the bells or gongs m and m2 are placed.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let- 3 ters Patent, is

A game device of the class described, comprising an oblong table orboard one end of which is adapted to be supported higher than the other,the lower end of said table 3 or board being provided at one sidethereof with a channel-way in which is placed a spring operated plunger,the central part of the table or board being also provided withlongitudinally arranged steps having pock- 4 ets which open toward thehigher end of said table orboard and which are numbered.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 4 16th day ofDecember 1910. i

BERTRAND Gr. WARD.

Vitnesses:

C. E. MULREANY. E. Gr. BROMLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

